About the artist

I am a painter, writer, and filmmaker. I have been living in Brooklyn for about 30 years, and now also spend part of my time in the Northeast Kingdom in Vermont. I have exhibited my work since 1990 in venues such as the Thomas Erben Gallery and Mayson Gallery in New York City, Art Cake in Brooklyn, BCB Art in Hudson, New York, the 1708 Gallery in Richmond, Virginia, and the Alice K. Rogers Gallery of St. John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota. I studied film and art history at UMBC in Baltimore, earned an MA in Liberal Education from the Graduate Institute of St. John's College in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and an MFA from the Tyler School of Art in Rome and Philadelphia.

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ABOUT THE ARTWORK

1 August (Katalogos 2618), oil acrylic sand and metallic paint on canvas over panel, 60 x 60 inches, 2011.

One of my most cherished memories is of standing in the yard as a small child on one of those frigid, crystalline winter evenings, leaning back, and looking up into the black plum depths. The moment triggered those kid questions we all have that are the seeds of human inquiry. Where do the stars come from? Where does the universe end? How can it end? How can it not end? If it ends, what comes after the end? How can there be anything after the end? The cold air on my face, the insoluble conundrums, and the chill of the unending and inconceivable reaches above combined in an electric, frightening, and irresistible sensation. I think now that memory and that sensation are integral to why I became an artist as an adult. Boundless and enigmatic, it is the sense I want to connect with as a painter, and what I would like to be a conduit for others to connect with. In no small way, my work in art is an act of devotion in that regard.

About 20 years ago, I began thinking of the world as the sum of all possibilities, an all-encompassing space where every potential exists and takes its place in a kind of immense sphere. The universe was the set of all possible events and things, even if they had not yet shown themselves. It was a manifestation of the infinite or near infinite, but there was also a satisfying completeness to the notion. It sort of resembled what we call now the multiverse, but I don't think I'd heard of the concept at the time. If anything it was maybe more old school Platonism.
The Age of Reason (Katalogos 2583), oil, acrylic, and metallic paing on canvas over panel, 48 x 48 inches, 2006.

When I paint, I envision myself heading into this vastness with a virtual lantern, navigating this way and that, coming across places and illuminating scenarios I've not seen. In that way, my process of painting is a kind of foraging, of discovering and bringing something heretofore unseen into the physical world through the mechanism of my decisions and actions on the painting itself.

In the short arc of abstract painting in contemporary Western climes, we have seen wonderful and transformative work, and yet given the scale of the possible, it seems likely that so far we have mapped out only some parishes nearest to hand. There must certainly be much more to explore, and opportunities for expansive collaboration with fellow travelers across other arts and sciences. It will take work, creative thinking, and most importantly creative freedom, but I believe that awaiting those who persevere are wide and uncommon provinces, and new languages, heard as if in a dream.
CURRICULUM VITAE

EDUCATION
MFA, Painting, Tyler School of Art, Rome, Italy and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

MA, Liberal Education, Graduate Institute of St. John's College, Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Undergraduate studies, film production, film theory and art history, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, Maryland.

EXHIBITIONS

Principal exhibitions

2009 John Finneran, Leeza Meksin, Christopher Quirk, Thomas Erben Gallery, New York, New York.

2009 BCB Art, Hudson, New York.
2009 1708 Gallery, Richmond, Virginia.
2000 Antigone, Alice K. Rogers Gallery of St. John's University, Collegeville, Minnesota.

Selected group exhibitions

2026 Community, Yellow Chair Salon at Art Cake, Brooklyn, New York.

2026 J&M Studios and the NARS Foundation, Brooklyn, New York.

2023 Drawing Rooms, Jersey City, New Jersey.

2019 Space 776, Brooklyn, New York.
2018 Small Works, Cluster Gallery, Brooklyn, New York.
2018 Space 776, Brooklyn, New York.
2018 Falling Forward, LIC Arts Open Gallery, Queens, New York.
2018 Summer Exhibition, LIC Arts Open Gallery, Queens, New York.
2016 The Persistent Nature of Urgency, curated by Lowell Boyers and Jeff Quinn, Mayson Gallery, New York, New York.
2011 Close Encounters, Gallery 51, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, North Adams, Massachusetts.
2010 On the Grid, Camel Art Space, Brooklyn, New York.
2010 BCB Art, Hudson, New York.
2009 BCB Art, Hudson, New York.
2008 Painting: Process, Walsh Gallery, curated by Jacqueline Bekiaris and Maria Silvestri, Seton Hall University, South Orange, New Jersey.
2005 NurtureArt, Spike Gallery, New York, New York.
2001 Inside/Out, Atlantic Center for the Arts, New Smyrna Beach, Florida.
1998 Emily Lowe Gallery, Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York.
1997 St. John's University Gallery, Queens, New York.
1994 Temple Gallery, Temple University, Rome, Italy.
1993 Around the Coyote Gallery, Chicago, Illinois.
1993 No Palace Studio, Chicago, Illinois.
1990 Armory for the Arts Invitational, Santa Fe, New Mexico.

AWARDS, RESIDENCIES, FELLOWSHIPS

2009 Grant, Artists' Fellowship, Inc., New York, New York.

2002 Grant, Kittredge Fund, Augusta, Maine.
2001 Artist in Residence, Atlantic Center for the Arts, New Smyrna Beach, Florida.
2001 Grant, Change, Inc., New York, New York.
2001 Grant, Artists' Fellowship, Inc., New York, New York.
1994-96 Teaching Fellowship, Tyler School of Art, Rome, Italy and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

VISITING ARTIST LECTURES, WORKSHOPS

2009 Visiting Artist Lecture, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia.

2009 Artist's Talk, 1708 Gallery, Richmond, Virginia.
2006 Visiting Artist Project, IS 71, Brooklyn, New York.
2001 Visiting Artist Lecture, Baltimore School for the Arts, Baltimore, Maryland.
2000 Visiting Artist Lecture, St. John's University, Collegeville, Minnesota.
1996 Visiting Artist Lecture, Temple University, Rome, Italy.

TEACHING

1997-2000 Adjunct Assistant Professor of Art, Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York.
1997-1998 Adjunct Assistant Professor of Art, St. John's University, Queens, New York.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Zachary Lazar, Interview, TUSSLE magazine, February 2026.

Paul Behnke, "In Process with Christopher Quirk," Structure and Imagery (blog), November 2013.
Tim Singleton, "Guiding Flow: The Paintings of Christopher Quirk," Little Patuxent Review, Winter 2011.
Laura Shovan, "Reflections on Water," Little Patuxent Review, January 2011.
Lucio Pozzi, "Letter from New York", Il Giornale dell'Arte, N. 290, September 2009.
Tim Bowring, interview, WRIR radio, Richmond, Virginia, January 2009.
Bird Cox, "See It/Mark Making," Brick Weekly, Richmond, Virginia, January 2009.
Jacqueline Bekiaris and Maria Silvestri, Painting: Process, exhibition catalogue, Seton Hall University, January 2008.
Nicole Ruhn, "Art Exhibit at SJU Galleries," CSB/SJU Community, Collegeville, Minnesota, December 2000.

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About the artist

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ABOUT THE ARTWORK

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